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🎵 Would you slip up your hand? Brother Ramon will bring you a bulletin. On our front cover we have our verse of the week. It says, what if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. 1st Timothy chapter 5 verse 8. It's a great scripture there about supporting your family and you know making sure you're taking care of your house and service times are Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. and we I preached this morning about the the overview of the life of the Apostle Paul and next week I'll finish that series off just a two-part series there and tonight we are in Genesis chapter 42 and Thursday evening we're gonna be in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9. So we had soul winning today was there any salvations today no we're in a we're in a dry spell huh little dry spot all right well hey God still rewards you for the work you do amen our regional sowing captains are listed below if you want to go solely in any of those areas just get a hold of that perspective captain and our praise report you can see the salvations baptisms and attendance totals and gift cards there's anybody here that did the New Testament challenge that did not get a gift card besides Remy and Kylie and Leilani anybody going once going twice okay I think we're we're good there anyway so I'll make sure to get those and then March 15th which is this Tuesday there's a homeschool field trip the sky zone trampoline park that's at 9 15 a.m. sharp and 11 30 a.m. the church is paying for all the people that are going it's three and up and waivers need to be signed if you want to maximize your time there instead of standing there waiting for other people to do their waivers miss Rachel can tell you where I need to go for the online website and then you can just get your waiver done before you go and then you can go in and start jumping all right and then so yeah if you have any questions see miss Rachel woods March 19th is the memorial service for Ricky cotton at 10 a.m. here at the church building and then the graveside service is going to be at 2 p.m. if anybody's wanting to travel there we will have to leave probably about 1 15 to make sure we're there on time is what I'm thinking so that's it's in Troutdale it says it's 25 minutes but you know you never know with the traffic so by good to leave at least maybe 45 minutes early just to make sure that we're in the right place on that we don't want to be late stuff like that because they I think they charge extra like if you have to go further you know it's not like church you know they I'm not gonna charge extra for you coming to church late I'm just kidding brother I'm just kidding all right she said it was miss Alejandro said it was her fault this time that early I'm sorry all right public seeming 101 all right so anyway that's going on this coming Saturday and we'll have lots of guests so let's be praying for the guests that are coming I know miss Sheila's been praying for them and she's wanting us to pray for these people that are coming her family members and possible friends and we have people from out of town coming up and you know it's very important to them that they get saved and if it's important to them that they get saved it's important to me so let's remember them in prayer this week and pray for all the services and everything coming up this weekend and I'll be preaching March 24th at FWBC LA down in Anaheim and let's see April 22nd through 25th is the Detroit soul winning trip I saw that they're trying to make some some shirts so that's pretty cool they looked they look nice but brother Temo's a man that wants to be the man in black though so he wants to get some black shirts made instead I personally like gray I'm somewhere in the middle and blended you know I'm just kidding but they looked really nice and I'm really looking forward to that trip and seeing what God does there and brother Deacon Corbin Russell's gonna be preaching for us Sunday the 24th and we'll have that location sometime before the event actually happens a lot of times when we book a space or something the haters will go and try to get us banned from those places so it's best to not divulge the secret location of the base until we the events closer so anyhow also April 24th I'll be preaching in Boise June 1st through 4th is the church camp and June 10th is the new IFB Northeast new IFB conference night in New Jersey Michiel is going to so I'm excited about that having one other person go I've never been to New Jersey before so I'm excited about going there and doing some soul winning there'll be an all-day soul winning marathon on Saturday after me and pastor Jimenez preached Friday night there'll be the soul winning marathon and so looking forward to that and July 14th through 17th red hot preaching conference all the other stuff we went over earlier in the service and I don't think we have any first-time visitors so I'm gonna skip that we sing happy birthday and we want to just give congratulations to Remy and Kylie for a beautiful baby boy that was born on March 8th at 10 45 p.m. weighing at 8 pounds 3 ounces and 19 and a half inches long and my first grandson so I'm very excited about that so he's he's gonna be you know the tough cousin you know the one that keeps all the other people away from the all the the ladies that were born before him so or they might be beating him up I don't know so anyway it's it's great to have another grandchild in the world and you know they're good parents so very thankful that everything went the way it was supposed to apparently Kylie almost had the baby in the car on the way to the hospital so that wouldn't have been good but what was it like how long after you got there was was he born five minutes five minutes so that's pretty close if he would have stopped on the brakes too hard I'd have been all over so anyway that's all I have for announcements let's sing another song and we'll receive the offering all right our next song is number 49 in your blue hymnals how great thou art song number 49 how great thou art song number 49 how great thou art let's sing it out on that first oh Lord my God when I in awesome wonder all the world my hands have me I see the stars I hear the rolling thunder thy power throughout the universe display then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art, how great thou art, then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art, how great thou art when through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art, how great thou art, then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art, how great thou art, and when I think that God his son not staring, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in, that on the cross my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art, how great thou art, then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art, how great thou art when Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home what joy shall fill my heart then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim my God how great thou art then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art, how great thou art, then sings my soul my Savior God to thee how great thou art, how great thou art Amen. Good seeing you, Brother Ramon. Could you bless the offering for us? Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Genesis 42. And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies, to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons. We are true men. Thy servants are no spies. And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies. Hereby ye shall be proved, and by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother. And ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you. Or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. And he put them all together into ward three days. And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do and live, for I fear God. If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison. Go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses, but bring your youngest brother unto me. So shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, and that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child, and ye would not hear. Therefore behold also his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter. And he turned himself about from them and wept, and we turned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way. And thus did he unto them. And they laid their asses with the corn, and departed thence. And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money, for behold it was in his sack's mouth. And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo it is even in my sack. And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us? And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told them all that befell unto them, saying, The man who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. And we said unto him, We are true men, we are no spies. We be twelve brethren, sons of our father, one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men. Leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. And bring your youngest brother unto me, then shall I know that you are no spies, but that ye are true men. So will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land. And it came to pass, as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye be raved of my children, Joseph is not, and Simeon is not. And ye will take Benjamin away, all these things are against me. And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons if I bring him not to thee, deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. And he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way in the which you go, then shall you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Brother Timo, will you pray for us? One upon another, and he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down thither and by us from thence, that we may live and not die. And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this great church. And let's pray that you would, Lord, that you would just speak to us through your word tonight, Lord. And I pray that you fill me with your spirit and with boldness as I preach your word. And Lord, let's pray that the people have ears to hear what the spirit says of the church tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so in the last chapter, I'll just kind of briefly kind of go over what happened. In the last chapter, basically, Joseph finally gets his chance to get out of jail, and the Pharaoh has the dream. Joseph explains what the dream means, and he becomes the governor and basically second in command of all of Egypt. And so now he's the governor, he's married, he's got a couple kids. And what the dream was is that there's going to be seven years of plenty, and where they were supposed to store up for the famine, which is going to be another seven years. And so I remember, this was a couple weeks ago, I was talking about how, in that chapter, it very plainly explained to us that this famine wasn't just a local famine or just a famine there in Israel. It was a famine that was actually around the whole world. And that God was using Joseph to save all these people from starving to death and having, you know, for basically, it would have pretty much destroyed the whole earth. Sounds like to me in the scriptures. So now we have where all this is starting to take place, and they're running out of food. Jacob and his sons are running out of food, and so he's saying, hey, go buy some food. I hear there's corn in Egypt, so go buy some food. And remember, Joseph stored up a fifth part of all the grain and all that stuff, all the corn, and stored it, and there was so much, it was more than they could count. They just stopped counting at one point. So they have plenty there in Egypt. And so he's saying, hey, go up and buy some corn so that we can live and not die. So, and I was thinking about this verse because it's saying, hey, go buy corn. And who's the one that's selling the corn? It's Joseph that's selling the corn. And it's not, we're not talking about corn that you use for popping corn. It's more likely like grain so you can make bread. And bread is a staple and has been a staple of food for thousands of years. If you didn't have meat, you didn't have veggies, you know, I mean, bread is made out of veggies. But bread is a staple for thousands of years. It talks about it a lot in the Bible. And it represents, you know, the word of God. It represents the body of Christ. So, but anyway, it's a food that's sustained people for a long, long time. Now, I'm not going to have you turn there, but I'm just going to read for you Proverbs 11, verse 26. The Bible says in Proverbs 11, 26, it says, He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. And that's a real interesting scripture when you put it to the light of what Joseph's doing here. What he's doing is a good thing. The Bible says that he has a blessing upon him for selling it. Because couldn't they have been like really greedy and just said, you know what, we're just going to take care of Egypt. We don't care about the other nations of the world. We don't care that everybody else is starving to death as long as we have, you know, enough corn for us. Hey, we can't sell it all to everybody else because then we won't have any left. But in reality, they had so much that they couldn't even count it. So they weren't really in danger of losing out. So the Bible says that someone that would withhold that from somebody, there's a curse upon that person. So, you know, you have all these preppers and stuff around the world that are storing up, you know, for a rainy day or whatever. And I don't have a problem with that. Like I think you probably should have some kind of an emergency fund just in case. I mean, you know, just get some of that army food or whatever. But to store it up for years and years and years and years and years, I mean, and go build a silo out of a nuclear, old nuclear shell or something. It's like you're going a little too far. You're not going to be able to escape the tribulation, okay. There's no such thing as off the grid really anymore. So, you know, the grid is scanned and fully, you know, they know where everybody is at all times. So the only way we're going to be able to escape anything is if God allows us to escape things, right. So anyway, let's look at verse number four. So it says, But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob, spent not with his brethren, for he said, Less peradventure, which peradventure means perhaps mischief befall him. So I was just thinking about this and I think at the end of the chapter it kind of lends to my theory here. And we'll get into that later, but Jacob learned his lesson with Joseph. Remember, Joseph was the favored son, the one that he loved more than the other sons and made him the coat of many colors. Joseph was a prophet, he was dreaming dreams, and he was a goodly child. He was probably the best out of all the children that he had. But it makes me think that Jacob sensed some kind of issue with the rest of his sons. Because why not send him? And it was also the other child born of Rachel and she died in childbirth. And so this kind of seems like it's become his new favorite. And so I just think that Jacob doesn't exactly trust all of his sons. And think about this, Reuben laid with one of his wives. I mean, that's pretty weird, pretty sick. And it says Jacob heard it, but he kept his peace about it, he didn't really say anything about it. He will say something about it in the end of the book, though. He is going to pronounce some prophetic things upon the children of Israel, his own children. But all these guys have made mistakes, right? And Joseph has made some mistakes. He's a pretty good guy, though, for the most part. He makes some mistakes later on that I think lend to the thought of reaping what you sow also. But we'll get into that in later chapters. But anyway, it says, And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came, for famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the earth. Now, I want to call to your remembrance the dream that Joseph had when he was young and he was still living at home. And before he got thrown in the pit and sold to the Ishmaelites or whatever, he had this dream. Let's go back and revisit the dream, because this is the fulfillment of it, right? This is a partial fulfillment of it. So, look at Genesis chapter 37. Just go back in your Bible, several chapters, and go to verse 5. Genesis 37, verse 5. It says, See, they already hated him, but they hated him even more because he's sitting there, you know, telling them that he's dreaming dreams about them. And behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood round about you and made obeisance to my sheaves. Which basically means that they bowed before them, right? And his brethren said to him, Shout thou indeed reign over us, or shout thou indeed have dominion over us. And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. So, and remember, I kind of talked about the fact that the children of Israel, ultimately, you know, and there's a parable where Jesus says, bring them before me and slay them before me. And basically, that is going to end up happening at some point. I think that this is kind of a prophecy, basically concerning that. That, you know, it's just a picture of Christ having to say this to the Jews in the end times. And because basically, they're saying the same thing. When he came, they didn't want to receive him. They didn't want to receive him as the Christ. And they hated Jesus and wanted to kill him, right? The Jews, the ones that the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the ones we were talking about a lot this morning, they hated him for his words, and they hated him for his dreams. Obviously, Jesus wasn't necessarily telling them dreams, but he was giving them parables. And he was speaking to them in dark sentences and parables. And so, the people that could hear the Word of God were hearing what he was saying, but the people that couldn't, they were confused by it. And that's basically how the Word of God is anyway. There's a lot of people in the world that just don't understand the Bible at all. And they've never read the Bible, but they're going to tell us what it means. You know, that happens quite a bit. Like, Jesus isn't like what you're saying he is. Well, how do you know? Have you read the Bible? Well, no. What about the book of Hezekiah? Have you read that one? And they always, I know one time I did that, and I thought the person was going to say, he was going to call me on my bluff, but he didn't. He paused for a second, though. He's like, I read that book, like, scores of times. I was like, oh, yeah, you read the book of Hezekiah? He was like, he just paused for a second. I was like, and he's like, yeah, of course I've read the book of Hezekiah. He's like, man, get out of here. There is no book of Hezekiah. What's wrong with you? But anyway, so his brethren hated him even more because of the words that he was saying and the dreams, and the fact that the dreams said that he was going to reign over them. They were going to bow down to him, right? Look at verse number nine, it says, And he dreamed in yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? And his brethren envied him, but his father observed the saying. And of course, I showed that the reason why the children of Israel delivered Christ was because of envy. They envied him, and that's a bad look. Envy is basically coveting his goodness. They're coveting his ability to reach the people, and that envy usually turns into hatred. They don't really love you. They're kind of like the sycophants or whatever, how the sycophants will attach themselves like a parasite, and pretend like they love you, and give you all these props. And then, you know, once they reveal the fact that they're evil people, then they turn completely against you, and make war against you. And that's exactly what the Jews did to Jesus, right? Let's turn back to Genesis chapter 42 verse 7. So, in Genesis chapter 42, it said, you know, in verse 6, it said that they came and bowed themselves to him. They didn't know who Joseph was. They're coming, and they're coming to the governor of Egypt, which was a world power at that time. And so, they're being very respectful. They're bowing down to him, but they don't realize this is Joseph. This is Joseph. Look at verse 7. It says, And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. And I was thinking about this also, that the speaking wrote, he's pretending like he doesn't know them, right? And it says that Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. They didn't know that it was Joseph. He's probably wearing different clothes, looked different, probably had a beard. He was a young lad. He was only 17 years old at the time he left. And so, he probably looked a lot different. And they didn't know who he was. So, I was thinking about the fact that they said, that it says he made himself strange unto them. And that kind of reminded me of Jesus speaking to people in parables. But it also reminded me of John chapter 1. Turn to John chapter 1, and look at verse number 5. Obviously, this whole chapter is a great chapter. In John 1, 1 it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And so, Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and He is God. So, John 1, 5 says, And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. So, if you're looking at Joseph as a picture of Christ, which I've shown several times where Joseph does picture Christ, I believe that this is kind of a picture also of Jesus coming to the world, and the world did not know who He was. They're looking at Him like He's just some regular guy, but in reality, He's God manifest in the flesh. Just think about all the things that people said to Him, all the things that people did to Him, and how those people would probably regret doing those things that they did. Even Thomas, just the fact that he doubted Jesus Christ, it's just like I'm sure that he felt dumb about that for the rest of his life. I mean, we call him doubting Thomas still today, but doubting Thomas was probably a great man of God. But that just shows that you can do one dumb thing in the Bible, and it kind of sticks with you, you know what I mean? But the Bible says that the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Jesus is the light of the world, and when He came to the darkness, they didn't understand it. They didn't understand who He was. Now, skip down to verse 10. It says, And He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. So the world didn't know who He was, but here's the tragedy of the whole thing. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. He came to His own people. He came to the Jews. The Jews had the oracles of God. They were responsible for keeping track of the Bible and keeping track of the prophecies. They knew all the prophecies, but yet He came to His own, and His own received Him not. They didn't realize, you know, if they knew He was the Messiah, they didn't believe in Him. And some of them just didn't believe that He was the Messiah. And the Jews today are still waiting for the Messiah to come, but He's already come. So who are they waiting for in reality? They're waiting for the Antichrist to come. It's going to be a big surprise and a shocker to them when He declares Himself to be God, and He really isn't. See, but the first one that came, He really was God, okay? So, you know, that's some poetic justice for them right there. But that verse number 8 reminded me of this, is that Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not. They didn't know who he was. Just like when Christ came as the Messiah, the Jews didn't know who He was either. But He knew them. He came to them. He came to them to save them, and they didn't know it was Him. Genesis chapter 42 verse 9, let's keep going through the scriptures here. Genesis 42 verse 9, and Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Your spies to see the nakedness of the land are you come. So, he's basically Joseph, this is kind of, you know, this story is just so awesome, because it really does just show you that people reap what they sow. And it just shows you that God was at work through this whole thing. And God brought those 10 guys that basically, they did sell him. They sold him as a slave. They told their dad that he was dead, and that some wild beast ate him. Tore apart his coat of many colors that his dad made for him. So, his dad this whole time has thought that Joseph is dead. That's a pretty cruel thing to do. And so, they aren't very nice guys, a lot of these guys. But, you know, I believe that there's redeeming qualities in a lot of these guys, and we'll see that as we go through here a little further. But, Joseph's playing a little game with them here. He's like, it's time for me to get a little bit of revenge. So, he said, Your spies to see the nakedness of the land are you come. And they said unto him, Nay my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons, we are true men, thy servants are no spies. And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land, you're come. And they said, Thy servants are 12 brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. So, that term, is not, is a euphemism in the Bible for that person is dead. So, here, you know, they're telling Joseph that they're true men, but then they're lying about Joseph, and he's standing right in front of their face. So, he's saying, you know, we're 12 sons of one man, one is at home with Daddy, and the other one's dead. So, and I'm sure that didn't make Joseph very happy for them to still continue on with their lie, but, you know, that's the thing about lies is once you tell that lie, you're kind of stuck with it. And so, you know, some people just stick with their lies so that, you know, they don't have to tell the truth, but eventually it's going to get forced out of them. As we see in the coming chapters, they're not going to have a choice but to admit what they've done. So, verse 14 says, So, he's putting them in a hard position here, and they're actually afraid of them. You know, even if they realize it was Joseph at this point, they'd still be afraid because Joseph is now the governor. He's the one that can sell them for slaves. He's the one that can, you know, have them killed or whatever he wants to do with them, basically. And he's basically saying you need to prove what you're saying or you're spies. But they've already told one lie, that Joseph is dead. That's what they're, they've already said that lie. He's like, if there be any truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh, you're surely spies. Let your words be proved. Now, let's turn over to Matthew chapter 12, verse 34. Matthew chapter 12, verse 34. Keep your finger there. Of course, in Genesis chapter 42, verse 17. Matthew chapter 12, verse 34 says, The mouse speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. So, basically, Joseph's using this, you know, he's using this principle that you see here in Matthew chapter 12. And, you know, there's a lot of meanings you can draw out of this, like, you know, the fact that you're justified by your words. Well, when you say that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you believe you have eternal life, your words are saying what you believe. And this is what we, this is our test for what people, whether we think someone's saved or not. It's not the good works they do. It's not how they're dressed. It's not how they look. It's not how they talk. It's what they say specifically that they believe. So, when we're going, someone and we ask people these questions, like, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven when you die? We're trying to draw the truth of what they actually believe out of their heart. Now, this is kind of what Joseph's trying to do here. He's like, hey, you said all these things, let you, you need to prove it by showing me that this is actually true. Bring your brother here. But obviously, Joseph has an ulterior motive here. He wants to see his brother Benjamin. And he wants to, you know, obviously see his dad again. But he also wants to play a little game with his brothers here and kind of torture them a little bit because they deserve it. You know, he's not going to, he doesn't want to hurt them. He loves them. And he ends up forgiving them. But he is still playing a little game of cat and mouse with them and making them think things that maybe aren't necessarily true, which are, some of the things aren't true. Now, look at verse 17 back in our text. And so he said, let your words be proved, whether it be any truth in you. So what we say out of our hearts is, you know, the Bible says, you know, out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. So when you have good things to say, that shows that you have a pretty good heart. And obviously, the heart of man is desperately wicked. I understand that. But a saved person, you know, they are capable of saying a lot of good things out of their heart. And really, honestly, the biggest thing we need to get out of this, I think, is that when someone proclaims that they're saved by faith alone through grace alone, you know, that's how we measure their, you know, whether they're saved or not. Now, could they be lying to us? Of course, they could be lying to us. But what we do know is that out of the, you know, if someone believes the wrong gospel, we can show that very easily. We know how to show them where they're wrong. Not meanly, not cruelly, but, you know, when they bring forth, you know, hey, I'm a pretty good person, then that's not something that's good coming out of their mouth because it's a lie. Nobody's a good person. You know, we're all sinful people. So, it says, by thy word shall thou be condemned. But many on that day are going to say, Lord, Lord, we prophesied your name, cast out many devils and all that stuff. And he's going to say, I never knew you. Because he's going to judge them based upon the words that they said, the things that they believed. And that's how we need to judge also when it comes to context of soul winning or determining whether someone is saved or not saved. And sometimes that can be a little hard. Sometimes people give us really vague-y answers and then they know what we're trying to get out of them sometimes, I think. And so, it's kind of hard sometimes to discern whether someone is or not. But if they're playing that kind of game with you, you know, to me it seems like I tend to stray onto the side of they're not saved. Because why are they trying to deceive you? Or why are they trying to, you know, just be vague about their answers? Some people have some of the weirdest comebacks when you ask them questions too. It's just like, where did that come from? Like, we could write books about the soul winning answers that we get sometimes from people about why they think they're saved. I was a school teacher. It's like, okay, so that just automatically gets you into heaven, huh? Man, I'm in the wrong profession. But, or people saying that they're in the military, I've had people say, well, I was in the military and that's why I'm saved. It's like, probably why you're not saved, actually. Anyway, I'm just kidding. But people do a lot of terrible things in war. So, you know, things that, you know, I was just following orders. Well, you know, tell that to God on judgment day. See what he says. Anyway, so, let's move on here. So, he put them in, excuse me, verse 17. And he put them all together into war three days. And Joseph said unto them, the third day this do and live, for I fear God. And I think this is an interesting thing that he's saying here. So, it's interesting, first of all, that it's three days, okay? And so, obviously, Jesus Christ was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, three days and three nights in hell. But Joseph said unto them on the third day, this do and live. So, he's instructing them to do something specifically on the third day. Whatever he's commanded them to do, to go and fetch your brother, and you should be kept in prison, that your words may be proved. So, you know, didn't Jesus come to preach to the people in prison? And I'm not talking about Abraham's bosom prison, where it's supposed to be the good prison or whatever. You know, I've never heard of the good prison, but I don't know, that's just me. But I think that this is kind of a picture to show that once Christ died and he was buried and rose again three days later, that people are commanded to be saved. Now, people say, you know, and I believe personally, and I hope you believe the same thing, that we are saved. I don't know, I just lost my train of thought, completely blanked out. What was I saying? Huh? What? Oh yeah, command to be saved, thank you. So, we're commanded to be saved and we're not Calvinists here. So, we're commanded to be saved though, but does everybody keep God's commandments anyway? They don't. And so, we are commanded to be saved, commanded to. But, you know, just like every other commandment that God has, people break them. So, and just like the world was not able to live without the resurrection of Christ, these men, after three days and three nights, they were loose from their prison as long as they did what they were commanded to do. So, I just think that that's a cool picture of, you know, showing that after three days and three nights, hey, we're commanded to repent and believe the gospel. And I don't mean repent of your sins, I mean change your mind about whatever you believe in. Turn to Acts 17 verse 30. Acts 17 verse 30. I had an old Joe moment there for a second. I was like, I just forgot completely what I was saying. Anyway, Acts 17 verse 30. This proves it right here. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. So, God commands all men everywhere to repent. Does that mean every man? Does that mean all men? Yes, it does. Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. So, he's going to allow Christ to do the judging. It says, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men that he hath raised him from the dead. So, you know, we are commanded to repent, we're commanded to believe, we're commanded to be saved, but that doesn't mean everybody's going to do it. Obviously, a very small percentage of people do it. I heard Pastor Shelley say something to the effect of about 5% of maybe people are actually saved. I believe it's a very low percentage also. And then he said like the reprobates kind of have the same similar amount. I would agree with that too. I would agree with that too. Worldwide, you know, it's probably equal on both sides and then there's just the rest of everybody else. They're just regular sinners that aren't necessarily, you know, they're not saved or children of the devil. But, you know, I mean, if you look at the statistics of, you know, sodomites, it's like 3%. It might be more now though. I mean, it's probably climbing up every year where it's going to be like way top heavy as a statistic. Not just sodomites, but just reprobates in general. Because when people have to take the mark of the beast, they become reprobates at that point, right? And so no matter what they are, no matter what gender they are or whatever, they're going to be reprobates because they've rejected the word of the Lord and they're worshipping the devil straight up. So let's look back at Genesis chapter 42 verse 19. The Bible says, And they did so. So they know exactly why this is happening. They figured it out really quick. And, you know, just especially having to bring about that story of who they are, the 12, we're 12 sons, one is not. They happen to be standing in front of the guy. They don't even realize it. But they said one to another, so it's more than just one person saying it. We are verily guilty concerning our brother. They know what they did. They were all in on it. And that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear. And that anguish of his soul was, you know, basically he's thrown in the pit. They roughed him up. You know, they're selling him to complete strangers. They don't know what they're going to do with them. They don't really care. They were talking about murdering him. And, you know, Reuben talked him out of it. And that's the only reason why he was alive. But it says they know that this is why this distress has come upon them. And here's the thing that all men that are to be saved must admit they're guilty before God. You have to admit you're guilty before God. Now, I'm not saying you have to be really, really, really sorry for everything you've done, okay? But you must admit that you're a sinner. That's the first point. That's point number one. You must admit you're guilty before God. You know, people can admit that they're sinful and not even believe in God. Because most people know deep down in reality that what they're doing is wrong because we have the conscience. You know, our conscience bothers us when we do stuff. Obviously, that conscience can get, you know, the more you do something, the less it's going to bother you. But as a saved person, that can happen too. But when you're doing something wrong as a saved person, you really, really know it's wrong. And that's a dilemma for us, isn't it? But all men must admit that they're guilty before God and these guys are no exception to the rule. So, they understand that they did something wrong here. I think that's important to see that now that they're caught up in it, now that their backs are against the wall and they're going through the distress that they're going through, that's important to know that there's restoration for them because of the fact that they do realize what they did wrong. You know, even though they can't really admit it right now because they're still sticking to their story and their lie. But they do know, you know, amongst themselves they're telling each other, we know. So, look at verse 22, it says, And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child, and you would not hear. Therefore, behold, also his blood is required. So, they think he is dead. You know, and maybe those slavers that bought him, maybe they were just known for working people to death or selling them to people that work them to death. But they said his blood is required, regardless of, I mean, they think he's, they probably think he is dead. Probably worked to death in whatever place bought him. But Reuben was the one that said don't do this and he really wanted to set him free. It explains that when he came back to the pit he was gone because he was going to let him out. So Reuben does have some redeeming qualities to him. You know, even though he did that with his father's wife and there's a wicked sin. And, you know, later on Jacob says that Reuben will not excel because, you know, he's unstable as water. But, you know, this is a good thing that Reuben does. And where he tried, well, I mean, we at least tried to get him to spare Joseph. So, but, you know, this made me think of this also that we all put Jesus on the cross. So, when it says, behold, also his blood is required. So, and, you know, when Jesus died on the cross, he died for the sins of the whole world. And, you know, we put everybody in this room here that saved. Every single person in this room here, we had part in the death of Christ. Just like the 10 children or the 10 sons of Israel here talking about how what they did, you know, it's required. The blood's required of him. Well, it's the same thing with us. You know, we took, Jesus Christ took each person's place in this room and died for the sins that you've committed. Everything you've ever done from the time you were little till the time you die, he died for those sins. So, you know, and the people that are saved are the only ones that are going to heaven. So, really, saved people are responsible for the death of Christ. But so are the unsaved. I'm not saying that we're like Calvinists again. So, don't get me wrong with that. But everybody in the world put Christ on the cross, everybody. But when we think about our personal sins that put him there, that should make us stop and think, hey, maybe I shouldn't be doing this. Maybe I need to stop doing this. Maybe I need to repent of the sins that I'm committing right now and get things right with God. Because when we think about what he had to suffer in order to save each and every single person here, it was all your sin. So, if you want to start like just in your mind just adding up your sins that you've done, hell now, you probably can't even remember them all. If there was a timeline of all our sins, we'd probably feel bad a lot. Where we just every single thing we've done, every single thing we've said, every single place we went where we weren't supposed to go, everything we watched or listened to that we weren't supposed to, that should make us stop and think, hey, that put Christ on the cross. That made him have to suffer for me. So, we all put him there and we like to, the Jews did crucify Christ. There's no doubt about that and the Bible says that. But we did too. We did too. Let's look at Isaiah chapter 53, some really great scriptures that hit home here and make us realize our part in the crucifixion. Look at Isaiah 53 verse 5, it says, but he was wounded for our transgressions that were our thus. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. So, this is our, our, our, we. This is us. Look at verse 6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He paid for the sins while you're saved also. Right? So, the Lord, you know, we've got, and we like sheep, we do go astray. Even as saved people, saved people go astray too. Saved people get out of church too. Saved people, you know, just say, you know what, I just want to go back and live the life I was living. It was way easier than this. But then you start doing it and you're like, it's not as easy. But then there's the people that just still don't get it. They leave church or they leave, you know, the things of God. And they don't understand why they're going through such hard times. And I always just think, you know, when I see someone that's been out of church or someone that's left, you know, not just our church, but any church, and then I hear them going through all these problems, it's like, man, I mean, don't you understand what the Bible says? You're going to get chastened for it. It's not something you're going to be able to avoid. So, look at verse number 11. It says, And then look at verse 12, it says, for the transgressors. So, you know, Christ is very plain and clear that He died for our sins. He died for the sins of the whole world. And He, we put Him on the cross. So, we can't avoid that. I mean, we like to sometimes be like, oh, they did this, they did, but it's you too. You know, we got to keep that in mind. Let's go back to our scriptures in verse number 23. It says, by an interpreter. So, that whole conversation they were having, Joseph understood everything that they were saying. So, oops. Isn't that embarrassing when, like, you don't think anybody else is around or whatever, and then, like, you realize that person they were talking about standing right next to you, like, oh, that's why it's good not to do that, but it's embarrassing. But they should be embarrassed because they didn't realize that Joseph understood what they were saying because as he was speaking to them, he spoke with an interpreter. So, all this conversation you're hearing back and forth is actually being done through an interpreter. He's telling them one thing, the interpreter's telling them, and it's going back. Okay? So, and even this chapter, you know, in the Bible, is interpreted and translated from Egyptian to Hebrew to English. If you think about it. Because he was speaking to them, he was speaking in Egyptian, the Egyptian interpreter speaking back in Hebrew, and then they're going to the Hebrew back to the Egyptian interpreter and back to them, but then we're reading, then that got written down in Hebrew and translated through all many languages in the world, and it's translated also to us in English. So, it's gone through. People are like, oh, the Bible's just been translated all these different times. Yeah, it has, but that doesn't mean it's not true. That doesn't mean it's not right. And you're like, nobody can do a perfect translation. Well, why do they have interpreters then? It's because you can do a perfect translation. Just because it might not sound exactly the same as it is in English to us, or maybe it's in a back, you know, backwards or whatever, it's still, you can still interpret, you know, that's why there's interpreters in the world. And so, someone interpreted the Bible for us, and the King James Bible was interpreted by 54 translators, I believe, is the right answer to that, that all spoke fluent languages, they spoke multiple languages, and we can trust the Bible that we have in our hands. We can trust the Bible, and we got to understand that sometimes there was conversations going on that were interpreted multiple times, but the funny thing is, God is the author of languages. You know, He changed the language, everybody had the same language at Babel, and then He confused the languages, so they couldn't understand each other. So they all were dispersed into different areas of the world, and they could understand each other, but God invented all those languages for them to speak and to write and all that stuff. So, I just think it's weird that people, I had somebody say that to me last week, something about, you know, how it's been interpreted so many times, it's like, well, you know, I don't know what to tell you, but, you know, we have translators for a reason. So, at Nuremberg, when they did the trials for the Nazis, they used interpreters for all the different languages that were there, and somehow they understood everything. So, Hitler's evil, all right? Let's put these, hang these guys, and put them to death. Anyway, let's look at verse number 42, it says, And he turned himself about from there, or from them, and wept, and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. So, he grabbed one of them, said, I'm going to wrap him up, Simeon, and, but he, before he did that, he turned himself about from them and wept. So, that means he was, you know, what we would modern day say crying, but crying is actually, you know, yelling loud or talking really loud, but he wept, which reminds me of the verse in John chapter 11, 35, where it says Jesus wept. So, Joseph has a lot of pictures where he pictures Christ, he wept, and it just shows that Joseph had a really tender heart, just like Jesus had a really tender heart. He was God manifest in the flesh, and yet he still cared. Those weren't fake crocodile tears. Jesus actually cared for Lazarus when he died. He cared that his family members were hurting when he died, and Jesus wept because he can feel the feelings of our infirmities, because he feels what we feel. He cares about the things that we care about, you know, not everything we care about, but he cares about our plight in life. He cares about things that are going wrong, and it might not seem like he does. Sometimes it might not seem like he's answering your prayers or you're like, well, I don't understand why all this is happening to me. And, you know, you might not ever understand why it's happening to you. But we go through trials. We go through punishment. We go through chastisement. We go through tribulation. We go through affliction in our lives. But you know what? We know the person that cares is going to be Jesus. If nobody cares about your problems in this church, you know who does? Jesus cares. Does Jesus care? Yes, he cares. I know he cares. And that's from that famous song, but the Bible says in John 11 35, Jesus wept. Shortest verse in the Bible. And Jesus wept because he cared. He cared about Lazarus. He cared about Mary. He cared about Martha. He cared about all the people that cared about him. He loved him. And so even though he's God manifest in the flesh, it's not like he's so far above us that he doesn't understand us. He made us. He understands us more than we understand ourselves. Honestly, he knows everything about you biologically, spiritually, everything. Anything you can think of, he understands all those things about us because he's God. But yet at the same time, you know, he deals with us as sons and daughters when we're saved. He loves us just like a father would love a son. He loves us like a father would love his daughter. And so Joseph cared about his brothers too, didn't he? Even though they're sitting there talking about how they totally hosed him, totally messed him over and he wept because you know what? He does love them and he does want to forgive them. And Christ wants to forgive anybody that's willing to come, right? Let's turn to Hebrews 4. Go ahead and keep your finger here and let's go to Hebrews 4 15. Now Jesus has become the high priest that intercedes on our behalf to God. Just like Aaron in the Old Testament and any high priest, they were the ones that were supposed to intercede and go into the Holy of Holies to put the sacrifice in there, you know, put the blood on the altar once a year. And he was the picture of what Christ was going to do later on. And Christ became the high priest for us. But again, the humanity of Christ shows us that he can get onto our level. All these gods that these people believe in, these pantheons of other religions and stuff, those gods don't care about them. Those gods said, bring me some more blood. Bring me some more babies to sacrifice on this altar. Bring me some more virgins on the altar. Let's make sure our crops grow next year or whatever. These gods are gods of blood and gods of death. And I know that God, our God, required blood, but what did he ultimately shed? His own blood for our sins. He didn't require human sacrifice. He had the animals killed to show the picture of the sacrifice of Christ. But in the end, he didn't say, hey, bring me your babies, bring me your innocents and let me kill. That's what the devil does. The devil wants to kill and destroy and deceive and hurt people. And if he can do it by dumb religions and these idiotic religions that people believe in, like the Vikings religion, believing in Odin and Thor and Freya and all this other stuff, it's all a bunch of heathen garbage. It's all a bunch of heathen garbage. And yes, they did sacrifice people just like all the other religions around the world were doing. They sacrificed people and that religion is starting to make a comeback. I've actually, who's talked to someone that said they're pagan, they believe in Thor and all them, right? I've seen it. I've talked to people and it's just like, wow, you know that's mythology, right? You know, but they don't think it is. They're trying to revive those old gods. They're trying to do that in all societies though. If you think about all the societies where, you know, people are, you know, the white colonials are like being just demonized over everything. Not all white colonials were bad. I'm sure a lot of white colonials were bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ over and getting people saved, you know, and just because there was other bad ones doesn't mean that all white people are bad. But they're trying to go back to their old native religions and trying to make it like, you know, they were just peaceful basket weavers and, you know, we're just making these mounds and, you know, just weaving baskets and all of a sudden the white man came and killed everybody. Like that's not true. That is not true. That's fictional. There's lots of books that you can read about the Native Americans and about the interactions with people. I know that there was some atrocities done to the Native Americans but it was done on both sides. There was warring tribes that did the same thing and scout people and shot people and, you know, it was just a bad thing but, you know, when you're believing a false religion and you refuse to change, God is going to wipe you out. If you're eating, if you're performing cannibalism, that's the end of your road. God's not going to allow you to get through that. And that's what all tribes of the earth have basically done with these gods. The Germans, the Norse people, the Vikings in England, in Ireland, you know, all over the world it's been done. It's been proven. It's a fact. And so once you're at that end of it, God's going to be finished with you. And he's not, you know, but fortunately Christ came and people started to branch out and go to these places and cannibalism basically died out. Cannibalism died out for the most part all over the world. And even if those people weren't godly preachers and they weren't necessarily Bible-believing Baptists or whatever, the name of Christ, the law of Christ, the laws of God stopped people from doing those acts anymore. They changed everything. Christ changed everything in this world. One of the questions that that Muslim guy from last week, you know, he was, I think Brother Daniel was, he asked them, like, what is the difference between, you know, he was asking us what is better about Christ than about Muhammad. And Daniel was like, well, what year are we in? It's not the year of Muhammad, 2022. It's AD. You know, it's Jesus Christ is the reason why the calendar is 2022. It's not because of Muhammad. You know, a pedophile didn't affect the world in a good way. You know, and basically the way that they believe is that they think it's okay to just go around killing people and they conquer and force people to join their religion by death and destruction. So, and I know that not all Muslims are like that, but the hardcore fundamentalist Muslims are. And they would, if they could, if they could get away with it, they would take us over. But anyway, that was a rabbit trail, sorry. Where was I at? Hebrews 4, 5 says, So this high priest that hears our prayers and we go through the sun, we pray to the Father, we go through the sun. This same man that, you know, that laid down his life to save us, he was in all points tempted like as we are. So he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He can't, he does understand the plight of the man and the woman. He understands what we go through in this life and probably how hard it is to just keep from sin because there's so much sin out there. You know, I'm sure that for most people this is true. The days you sin the least are probably the days you're in church. Would you say that that's true? You don't really have time to get into sin because you're at church. And if you're at this church, it's an all-day event. So it's like, when can I sin? You don't got a chance, you know, when you get home maybe. But on the way to church, when you're yelling at your wife, or she's yelling at you more, more, but stop, slow down, you know, that kind of stuff. Anyway, that's a different sermon. But Christ does understand us. He understands what we're going through. And you know, when we're outside these doors, we're targets of sin. I mean, there's apps, there's everything on your phone. You know, if you talk about something that pops up like that day or maybe a couple days later, like, oh, I was just talking about this. Well, how'd that happen? Because your phone's listening to you, dummy. And it tells you what you want. You tell people what you want, and the phone's like, here, here's what you want. You know, and I'm not saying everything you want is sinful. I'm just saying that things are targeted at us to the point where, you know, the devil wants to trip us up. He wants us to sin. And our best days are probably going to be the days we're in church. Amen. Let's look back at our text in verse 25. Verse 25 it says, And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, what is this that God hath done unto us? So, they're blaming God, and they might be right about this one, that God is actually the one that's doing it to them because of what they did to their brother. And so, they realize that, I believe that they realize that they're in some sort of divine judgment, you know. But the fact that God's merciful really plays out through the rest of these chapters. And, you know, they get shamed. They get shamed for the things that they do, but do they really get what they deserve? They don't. Because selling somebody is a death penalty. Buying or selling human beings is the death penalty in the Bible. Yeah, we still believe in the death penalty of this church, even though we're not able to enforce that. And your government's not going to enforce it, but that is what the Bible teaches. So, what they did was pretty wicked. And so, basically at this point, the chickens have come home to roost, as the saying goes, and we reap what we sow. But, again, God is merciful. I talked about this this morning. I'm going to have you turn to Galatians chapter 6, though, real quick. Galatians chapter number 6. We're getting close to the end here. Another 45, 50 minutes. I'm just joking. Galatians chapter 6, verse 7. I spoke about this this morning in my sermon. And, obviously, the apostle Paul is the one that wrote this under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. And this applies to this situation. Be not deceived, verse 7. God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. So, when we're doing good, when we're well doing, when we're doing good deeds, those good deeds will come back to us. And people always say, well, that's karma. Karma is something different. That's from the Hindus or whatever. But, we believe in the doctrine of reaping what you sow. When you sow good things, good things are going to come back to you. And sowing is what? Planting seeds. But if you're planting good things, good things are going to come back to you. You know, I want some carrots over here. I want some real corn. Some corn on the cob, amen. I want some watermelons over here. You know, when you sow good things and you're patient, that fruit is going to come back to you. And it's going to come back to you in better ways than, you know, because when you sow, when you work, if you've ever, like, worked a garden before, it's not easy work all the time. You've got to keep the weeds out of there. You've got to make sure everything is in the right rows and so on and so forth. Water it. Make sure you don't leave on vacation and everything's all scorched. You've got to put some work into it. And so, that's what God's basically saying here is that, you know, let us not be weary in well doing. When you're doing good things, you're like, well, you know, why isn't good things coming back to me? Well, if you faint not, you're going to reap in due season. If you're working hard at sowing, guess what? You're going to reap in due season. A couple weekends ago, you know, we, was it last weekend? It was last weekend. Anyway, was it last weekend? Yeah. Man, I'm time messed up right now. But when we went to Spokane, we had 24 salvations in two days. I mean, it's like they were working hard. They'd only had six salvations up until the point that we came there. But it wasn't really like a big showing of people. It was about, it was the main group there. But we just, God just led us to these great areas and there was, it was like a really nice day outside. It was fairly warm. I could actually take my jacket off for part of the time. And it was just nice out. And that means kids are going to come out and play. And there was teenagers and a lot of children that came out and so we just like jumped on it. The ladies were just like, give me them salvations. I think Miss Alejandra, you had like four salvations or something? Three. Trace. Miss Sherry had four. And that's just, you know, that's all I know that who got people saved. But there was a lot of people just getting saved. 24 salvations in Spokane is a lot, you know. So because it's kind of, the receptivity is just depending kind of like it is here. But it was great. And you know, you keep going and you're going to reap. You know, God's going to allow you to reap, but don't faint. Reap. You're going to reap. Don't be weary and well doing. It's like, oh, people never get saved in Vancouver. Never is a long time. People do get saved in Vancouver. And you know, this is the kind of the time of the year when it's starting to, it's going to start getting better. You'll see. The warm winter or the warm months here are a lot better for soul winning. And also, we got a lot of trips coming up. So these trips, we usually reap a great harvest. So anyway, but these guys, their problem was they weren't sowing good things. They were sowing corruption and things of the flesh. And they do end up paying a price for it now. But here's the thing about God is that when you, I talked about this this morning. If you show mercy, He'll show mercy also. So we don't always get what we deserve, which is good. So we should be graceful to people just like God is graceful to us. Jesus Christ is graceful to you, you scummy sinner, every single day, isn't He? Because if we had a video camera that we could play back and, you know, 2.0 speed of everything we did every day last week, everything we said every day last week, we'd probably be upset with ourselves. Right. But that's what grace is. You know, God's riches at Christ's expense. But when we have grace with other people, then the things that we do might not hit so hard because we're forgiving, God's going to be forgiving for us. So it doesn't mean you get to skate out of everything. They're not skating out of everything. You'll see they get embarrassed in the end and then Joseph gives them mercy. So let's move on with the end of the passage here. Genesis 42 29 says, And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them, saying, The man who is the lord of the land spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. And we said unto him, We are true men, we are no spies. We be twelve brethren, sons of our father, one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that you are a true man, and leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households and be gone. And bring your youngest brother unto me, and then shall I know that you are no spies, but that you are true men. So will I deliver you, your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land. And it came to pass, as they emptied their sacks, that behold every man's bundle of money was in his sack, and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have you bereaved of my children, Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you will take Benjamin away? All these things are against me. And I could see how Jacob would be feeling that way. It's like, hey, you know, the first time, you know, Joseph went with you, he disappeared, now I send you on another mission, and Simeon's disappeared, and now you want me to give you Benjamin, my only other son that was by Rachel? I don't think so. And I could see why he would feel that way, because every time they do something, they screw it up. And so it says, in verse 37, And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee. Deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. But, you know, I'm sure that that didn't really, that might have been meant to inspire his father's confidence in him, but it's like, you slept with my concubine. That's probably what he's thinking. Like, why would I trust you just because you, like, slay my two sons? Like, first of all, he's probably not going to slay his two sons if he doesn't bring them back, so it's kind of like, there's a little bit of bravado there going on or whatever. But here's what he says, and he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way in which you go, then shall you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. And so to finish off the chapter, you know, that's where we leave off, and next chapter we're going to see what happens when they come back and do what they're supposed to do, so that we'll get the rest of that story next week. So that's Genesis chapter number 42. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for another great chapter in the book of Genesis, Lord. Helps us to understand not only the carnal things of the Bible, but also the history of the Bible, and Lord, the spiritual applications that we can take from the book of Genesis. They're very vast, and Lord, I'm sure I skipped over some stuff that I didn't see this time, but Lord, we thank you for what we were able to see tonight, and we pray that you'd bless this congregation as we go our separate ways tonight. Take care of us, Lord, and I pray that you bless next weekend all the things that are coming to us next week, and Lord, I pray that you bless the services that are going to be done here. In your name we pray. Amen. All right, our last song will be sung on number 45, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Song number 45, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Song 45, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Let's sing it on the first. All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race, ye ransom from the fall. Hail Him who saves you by His grace and crown Him Lord of all. Hail Him who saves you by His grace and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe on this terrestrial ball. To Him all majesty ascribe and crown Him Lord of all. To Him all majesty ascribe and crown Him Lord of all. Oh, that with yonder sacred throng we at His feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song and crown Him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song and crown Him Lord of all.